An Exploratory Investigation of the Factors Influencing Consumer Opinions of Fracking: As Usual, It has something to do with Politics!

This research investigates factors influencing a consumer’s attitude toward fracking. Respondents were randomly selected from individuals residing in two states in the Northeastern U.S. and a Mid-Atlantic state. The states were chosen because each has a different state policy regarding hydraulic fracturing: one bans fracking, another allows fracking, and the third allows selective fracking. Opinion items used in the survey were designed to tap into each respondent’s environmental and political affiliation. One’s opinion toward fracking operations thus serves as the independent variable under investigation and as a surrogate for one’s view of fossil fuels.One research objective was to develop a theoretical framework outlining some critical factors that must be understood before developing a consensus-based national energy policy. Important exploratory aspects of the research reveal that secondary factors such as the region’s economic condition and/or whether the respondent lived in a rural or urban area were predictive of one’s opinion of fracking. The findings are consistent with previous research indicating that one’s ecological worldview and political affiliation would significantly predict support for (or opposition to) fossil fuel-based industrial processes such as fracking. Our QUALTRICS survey results appear reflective of the opinion of individuals living in locations where fracking is a viable economic alternative